


Recruitment

by Starofwinter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Drinking, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Laura is Clint's sister in law, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: Clint finally gets in contact with Natasha after Thanos.





	Recruitment

“ _ Natasha _ .”

She can hear the broken grief in Clint’s voice, even through a fuzzy phone line, and she  _ knows _ .  “Clint?”

“They’re gone, ‘tasha.  All of them. Laura and the kids.”

“Oh, Clint, I’m sorry.”  There’s nothing she can say, and she knows it.  Clint loves his sister-in-law and her kids - he’d spent  _ so long _ doing everything he could to protect them from everyone, to keep them secret and safe, and none of it had mattered in the end.  They were still gone, because of the will of 

She can hear the clink of a bottle in the background, hears him take a long drink from it, hears the rattle of it being put down.  “‘Tasha, what- what do I do? You gotta give me something to do here, I need to-  _ I have to make this right _ .”  

“I’m going to come get you.”  It doesn’t matter if she’s halfway around the world, they  _ promised _ \- they’d always come for each other.  Natasha doesn’t make promises lightly, and Clint makes them too easily, but this one was one they’d always cling to.  “Put away the bottles, get some water and a shower, and get your gear.” She knows he needs some kind of instructions to kickstart him back into something resembling routine, especially with the despair of grief, and she’s more than willing to offer him that.  She’s grieving too, but she’s used to putting off handling her emotions till the mission is over. She knows he’ll be there for her when it is, and he’ll hold her together just the way she’s holding him together right now.

Clint takes a shuddering breath.  “Tell me who I need to kill.”

Natasha shakes her head, running a hand down her face.  There’s no way to summarize anything that’s happened this week, and she doesn’t even want to try.  “We’ll talk about that when I get there.”

There’s another long pause, and then he says, “‘Tasha?”  She can hear everything he doesn’t say:  _ I’ve missed you; I love you; thank you. _

“I know, Clint.  I’ll see you soon.”  


End file.
